Joe and Nancy

Joe and Nancy
Our Home on Wheels (Click on image above for our web albums.)

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

We finally left the big city of Calgary and headed for Lake Louise, up the Trans-Canada Highway 1 for about 135 miles.  We camped at the Lake Louise RV Park and the the drive up was just beautiful, ie, Kodak moments every kilometer (mile too) of the way here.  Nancy took a lot pics out the window of the coach, so you will see several of those, plus a few along the way where stopped.
A lot of these pics need no explaining, other than most were taken after we crossed over into the Banff NP.
Looks like we're driving straight into this wall of granite...
As you may have noticed, it was mostly an overcast day, so the pics will have coulds hovering in the peaks.
This was one of the pullouts where stretched our legs, had a cupoJoe and walked the dogs.  There was also some story-telling too!
Check that cloud cover above...
So, onward we pressed, closer to our camp site, Lake Louise, a place about half way between Calgary & Jasper, which is where we will be on our next stop.
We arrived at the Whistler RV Park in Lake Louise about the same time as the other 22 RVs.  And Ben had to do a little business first to get everyone in their right spots.  In the meantime, we waited a few minutes (20), for the caravan to make their way in.  We arrived Monday afternoon about 2 PM, so we had some free time to do a little exploring.  We ate a samich and headed out.
We decided to drive about 25K to Moraine Lake to see the lake and the surrounding Kodak moments.  Here a few of those "moments" on the way to the lake.
Note the "hanging glacier" above.  And below is a "tele" view of the right side of the glacier.
Moraine Lake, and the pile of "moraine".  What is moraine?  It is the sedimentary rock left behind by the movement & deposit of rocks of the glacier, several thousand years ago.
Above, looking west at five of the "Ten Peaks" of Banff NP.
A view of two of the peaks with the lake in the foreground.
We are just amazed at the amount of mountains we've seen so far, and we've only just begun (kinda catchy for a tune eh?)
 
 
Across the TransCan highway about 2k away was this ski resort.  And the tram was running to the first level, but we opted to wait for the tram ride planned at Jasper in in a couple days.
I was just amazed at how these humongous hunks of ice (glaciers) stay clinging to these mountain sides.
The above pic is with a 300mm lens, full out.  I would imagine that this ice pack is well over 200 feet to the right.
Along the Trans Can highway, about every 5k or so, they have built these "walkovers for the wildlife.  Along each side of the highway are these large seven foot fences to protect them.  In addition, they have walkunders for those who prefer under over "over".  The overs are concave in that the animals cannot see traffic or headlights as they pass over.  Pretty neat!
Apparantly, they do have some who make it onto the highway.  Every 5 miles it seemed, there were signs asking to watch out for the critters.
Well, as Nancy walks away toward Moraine Lake, I'm thinking:  Can Lake Louise be any prettier than this lake?  Tune in to the next blog from Lake Louise and find out.  And also the yummy lunch we had there.  Till then, RVing Beach Bums.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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